By:Rich Fisher
While the addition of baseball and softball will thin the ranks of the existing Cranbury School spring athletic teams next year, the Vikings are making sure this final season of "big numbers" is one to remember.
The varsity tennis team won two more matches, and have now taken five of seven since starting 0-4. Meanwhile, the track and field team ran by South River on Monday to raise its record to 8-2 on the season.
Here’s a look at how it happened.
TENNISŽ
After falling to Princeton Day School, 5-2, last Thursday, Cranbury bounced back to defeat Kreps, 10-0, Monday and Crossroads, 6-2, on Tuesday to raise its record to 5-6.
The doubles teams of Jeremy Watkins-Graham MacDonald and Kevin Wagner-Caroline Sholl were the Viking winners against PDS.
In the Kreps match, coach Lynn Totten got a chance to shake up her lineup against a less experienced team.
"Our top three singles players in that match were seventh-graders who don’t normally get a chance to play singles, so it gave them experience for next year, plus they won," Totten said. "In doubles, we split up the stronger players so some of the reserves got a chance to play with a different partner, and they did really well.
"That also gave us the opportunity to work on the placement of our volleys, getting our first serve in, and coming to the net."
Singles winners included MacDonald, Nicole Bredariole, Sholl, Richa Gawande and Emily Hanson. The doubles victors included Anthony Passannante-David Westerberg, Jamie Marino-David Restivo, James Faraci-Watkins, Thomas Connolly-Kevin Golisano and Ross Zebuhr-Charlie Leason.
Against Crossroads, the Vikings met a first-year program that still has large numbers due to the size of South Brunswick Township.
"They were a good team and they were fun to play," Totten said. "We had some good points and some good matches.
"Even though we won 6-2, it was one of those matches that the play as much more even than the final score looked. The other team really made some nice shots, but we were just the better team."
Passannante and Restivo each notched singles victories, while doubles wins came from Marino-Watkins, Sholl-Bredariole, MacDonald-Connolly and Gawande-Hanson.
The JV team has also been playing well. In a victory over Crossroads, David Chen, Leason and Aleksei Benedict won at singles while Kendrick Li-Alexis Dervech and Justin Shapiro-Whitney Patterson triumphed at doubles.
The Vikes also topped Kreps, 6-0, as Benedict-Raj Chopra, Tommy Jondahl-Mike Tessler, Leason-Zebuhr, Li-Dervech, Crystal Applequist-Patterson and Sushil Sikha-Shapiro won at doubles.
In a loss to West Windsor-Community, Jondahl-Tessler and Benedict-Chopra were the winners.
The Viking varsity and JV both met West Windsor-Grover Thursday after press time and conclude their seasons Tuesday against Crossroads.
TRACK & FIELDŽ
The Viking track and field team was without standout Rob Fazzaro Monday, but easily managed a 125-87 victory in South River. "Overall, this is the best team we’ve had here," said assistant coach Alex Johnston, who has been with the program since the early 1990’s. "When you get good kids, it really makes a difference. They’re always asking ‘What do I do next?’
"Kids like Matt Handel, Peter Stevens, Courtney Jackson and Robbie are dedicated. It’s a nice core of kids that come and ask you what to do. You don’t have to go find them and chase them down. They come ready to work."
Jillian Calicchio had an outstanding meet for the girls, winning the shot put with a throw of 25-5, and taking second in the long jump (10-6½), discus (48-4) and high jump (4-2). Eliza Stasi also came up big as a double-winner in the long jump (12-9) and 100 (14.4).
The boys big winner on the day was Stephen Lam, who was first in the hurdles (19.4) and 100 meters (13.2), tied for first with Stevens in the 400 (63.8) and tied for second in the discus with Tim Tsoi (80-6).
Vinnie Giacalone won the discus (90-4) and was third in the long jump (12-11½), Tsoi won the shot (34-9) and took second in the 200 (no times available), Alex Hilson won the high jump (5-2) and took second in the long jump (13-11), Handel won the mile (5:49) and Devon White won the 800 (2:52). Other place-winners included Danny O’Brien (third in shot, 32-1; third in hurdles, 19.7), Brian Whitman (second in shot, 34-1), Stevens (second in 100, 13.3) and John Bunting (third in 200).
For the girls, Courtney Jackson won the mile and broke her own school record with a time of 5:50, while Melissa Madden took third in the same event. Polly Silverman and Megan Hayden ran 1-3 in the 200, Matty Carrol (3:08) and Julia Sullivan (3:32) went 1-3 in the 800, and Kate DeBlois was second in the 400 (1:16) and hurdles (19.3).
The boys relay team also won while the girls finished third.
Cranbury competed in the Witherspoon Invitational at Princeton High School Thursday, and finish the season at Crossroads Monday in a tri-meet with Sandberg.
